You’ve no doubt already heard that Scott Walker is, yea, indeed,
running for President – with a hundred ‘Throne of Skulls’ jokes already
blossoming on Twitter* – but I don’t want to hit that. I want to
hit a
problem that I have with the Washington Post’s reporting
on the subject. This passage, in particular:

[Scott
Walker's] decision to take on public employee unions in Wisconsin in
early 2009 created huge protests around the state Capitol building in
Madison and left the state deeply polarized around his leadership….
That anger resulted in a recall election in 2012,which
Walker survived.
He went on to win his reelection campaign last November by a
comfortable margin, and his three victories in four years have made him
a hero among many conservatives.

Bolding mine. Here’s the thing. In the 2012 recall
election, Scott
Walker beat Tom Barrett, 53/46. According to the Washington Post,
that’s ‘surviving.’ And in the 2014 general election Scott Walker beat
Mary Burke, 52/47. According to the, erm, Washington Post, that’s
‘comfortable.’ Presumably the Washington Post would also concede
that
Scott Walker’s 2010 general election 52/46 win over Barrett was also
‘comfortable?’ …The point is, strictly speaking either all three
elections were won by ‘comfortable’ margins, or none of them were.
Particularly since Walker did better in the recall than in the general
elections, if only by a hair.

And that’s media bias in action. It might even be unconscious
media
bias, at that. Here is the basic reality of the Wisconsin public
union
fight: from beginning to ignominious end Democratic and progressive
activists conducted themselves as if they were spoiled, vicious
children. The electorate spanked them for it: there is no
credible way
that any anti-Walker fanatic can presume to speak for Wisconsin.
Wisconsin refused to let the anti-Walker fanatics win. It’s not
that
Scott Walker was the hero of that particular story (although most
conservatives would happily call him one) as he was the
protagonist.
Walker, from start to finish, had all the agency in that conflict.
Scott Walker did not ‘survive’ his recall election. He smashed the
recall movement to the floor and walked away, whistling. [full]

There
seems to have been no
highborn political reason
behind Jeff Bezo's purchase of the WaPost, but one hoped. Getting
rid
of the Graham's was a nice first step, but "institutional bias" seems
indeed to be the operative word. At any rate, if Scott Walker is
to become
the first honest conservative
person since Reagan to thwart the GOP machine,
he will, like Reagan, have to undergo trial by GOP fire. If he
succeeds, we win. I think he's a 35-65 chance in that regard, which all
things considered is the best chance we've had in 30 years.
(Saying Hail Mary 10 times).

It
was just about 7 years ago they showed up. Didn't know what they
were,
where they came from, nor whether you could eat them. We liked
them
because they (according to MoSup, who never spent 1000 hours on a gun
range before ear protectors were invented) had a nice song.
They had
a nice mat black and snow white color scheme, and a yellow beak.
Moved around the snow knowing just where to claw down to the covered
seeds that spilled over from the hanging feeders. Went to the
bird store and found out they were Dark Eyed Juncos.
Sold me a bag of white millet which I threw onto the snow covered deck
and they've been back every winter since. I don't know whether
they
spend summers in the arctic and fly south to warmer climes in winter,
or if they summer in Miami and fly north for the ski season.
Anyway,
this morning I was up early; dusk; and threw a cup of seed
out. A
minute later they were all over it. They must be watching for
me.
Like, I'm their god. I'm a good person. Yes.
Squirrels would
disagree, but squirrels are rats.